// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var Ent_FiveTop_060719 = new Array(); Ent_FiveTop_060719.ID = "Ent_FiveTop_060719"; Ent_FiveTop_060719.ID_WB = 13936653; Ent_FiveTop_060719.sPubDate = "7/19/2006 7:51:21 PM GMT"; Ent_FiveTop_060719.navsectionID = "3032083" Ent_FiveTop_060719.appFmt = 2; Ent_FiveTop_060719.itemsPerPage = 5; Ent_FiveTop_060719.nTeaseW = 198; Ent_FiveTop_060719.nTeaseH = 198; Ent_FiveTop_060719.appWidth = 624; Ent_FiveTop_060719.appHeader = ""; Ent_FiveTop_060719.appFooter = "    By Paige Newman, Movies Editor"; Ent_FiveTop_060719.rowSpacer = "20"; Ent_FiveTop_060719.rowAlt = "F7F7F7"; Ent_FiveTop_060719.appNavStyle = 3; Ent_FiveTop_060719.appLayout = 1; Ent_FiveTop_060719.copyMargin = 9; Ent_FiveTop_060719.copyBorder = 0; Ent_FiveTop_060719.sBodyFont = "font-size:12px;"; Ent_FiveTop_060719[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060718/060718_5top_splendor_6a.small.jpg","","Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Fine Line", "198", "140", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060719[i-1].body = "“American Splendor” (2003): Imagine having to play a character whose real-life counterpart is not only on the set but in the film with you. That’s the challenge that faced Giamatti when he took on the role of Harvey Pekar, a file clerk turned comic-book inspiration, whose leading characteristics are anger, paranoia and defeatism. Giamatti does the impossible, he makes the character sympathetic without making him simply “likable.” It’s a performance that should be shown in acting classes. Hope Davis makes a delightful counterpart as the equally cranky Joyce Brabner, who quite believably falls in love with Pekar. This is Giamatti at his most nuanced and is a can’t-miss film for fans."; Ent_FiveTop_060719[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060718/060718_5top_sideways_6a.small.jpg","","Sideways", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Fox Searchlight", "116", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060719[i-1].body = "“Sideways” (2004): Who would have thought that a character actor and, let’s face it, shlub, could become a believable romantic lead? That’s just what happened when Giamatti teamed up here with Thomas Hayden Church, playing a failed novelist who accompanies his best pal (Hayden Church) on a pre-wedding trip that detours from wine tasting and golf to romance when they meet wine lovers Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. The guys make a great comic team as friends with distinctly different goals, and Giamatti is utterly convincing as someone so beaten down by his own life that he no longer possesses the confidence to even consider pursuing Madsen. Giamatti shows his true abilities in a beautiful scene in which he explains to Madsen’s character his love for pinot noir."; Ent_FiveTop_060719[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060718/060718_5top_cinderella_6a.small.jpg","","Cindarella Man", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Universal Pictures", "141", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060719[i-1].body = "“Cinderella Man,” 2005: Giamatti received a long overdue Oscar nomination for his role as manager Joe Gould in this film about boxer James Braddock (Russell Crowe). As Gould, Giamatti is a sparkplug -- bobbing and weaving his way through life, unable to sit still -- and seems to glow a bit warmer than anybody else in the film. He’s so behind Braddock that it’s hard to imagine the fighter winning bouts without his enthusiastic manager. Crowe and Giamatti have great chemistry as two men who have traveled a very long road together. When Braddock tells him that for $250, he’d fight Gould’s grandmother, Gould simply replies, “Teeth in or teeth out?” Giamatti should have beaten George Clooney for that Oscar."; Ent_FiveTop_060719[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060718/060718_5top_privateparts_6a.small.jpg","","Private Parts", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Paramount Pictures", "122", "198", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060719[i-1].body = "“Private Parts” (1997): Not every actor can embrace the idea of playing a character named Pig Vomit. But in this story of Howard Stern’s meteoric rise, Giamatti employs a Southern accent and no tolerance for Stern’s humor, and makes Kenny \"Pig Vomit\" Rushton a hilarious foil. Giamatti shines when playing against someone larger than life (see also: Jim Carrey in “Man on the Moon”). He’s a classic scene stealer, and this film only truly comes to life when Stern has Pig Vomit to humiliate. Giamatti displays how much you can do with a role if you forget about trying to be likable. He goes after Stern full-throttle: face red, barely able to get his words out, a sputtering font of anger. It’s delightful to behold."; Ent_FiveTop_060719[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060719/060718_5top_winchell2_6a.small.jpg","","Winchell", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "HBO", "198", "106", "0", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060719[i-1].body = "“Winchell” (1998): OK, it's an HBO movie, but this story of controversial columnist Walter Winchell (a fantastic Stanley Tucci) gives Giamatti, who plays Herman Klurfeld, Winchell’s long-suffering ghost writer, such a strong role that it’s impossible not to include it. Giamatti plays Klurfeld as Winchell’s conscience (the two clash over Winchell’s support for Joe McCarthy). When they first meet, Winchell is being accused of bastardizing the English language and Klurfeld convinces Winchell to hire him with a stellar monologue: “From the Romans, to the Celts... to the Slavs, French, Jews, all the way to Walter Winchell. English is the biggest, ugliest bastard you'll ever meet.” It’s a spirited performance and one in which Giamatti actually gets to play a character as smart as he is."; // END editorial data